Wave of Residential Burglaries in Capital Area

News

Wave of Residential Burglaries in Capital Area

Forty-eight break-ins have taken place in homes around the capital area since mid-December, Vísir reports. According to a statement issued by police, 25 of these burglaries have taken place just since January 17th.

The break-ins stopped for a week around the end of January, but since the start of February, there have been 14 robberies, including two which occurred over the weekend in the town of Garðabær, not far from Reykjavík.

Skúli Jónsson, the deputy chief of police in the capital area, says that police are doing all they can to catch the perpetrators. “Burglaries in homes are, of course, terrible, and we are putting great emphasis on these cases,” he said.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the identity of the thieves, not least from Gunnar Einarsson, the mayor of Garðabær, who has suggested that the break-ins could be connected to organized crime and might be the work of perpetrators who are coming to Iceland from abroad.

Skúli agrees that the break-ins could be classified as organized crime—in that the MO of the robberies was very similar from case to case—and says that the stolen goods have not been sold in Iceland and are likely being sent out of the country to be sold abroad. He reiterated, however, that it is not yet known who is behind the crimes.

Nevertheless, Skúli believes that the police are on the right track in their investigations. “We’re just missing the last piece of the puzzle to blow it wide open, that’s my feeling.”